The owner of RCI garment factory in Preah Sihanouk Province of Cambodia has been reported ‘missing’, leaving the garment workers of the unit unpaid, and that too without any prior notification. The facility has stopped the production processes, and around 600 garment workers reportedly protested outside the garment factory, demanding settlement of their wages.
An Rama, an official for the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said that production at the facility, which is set up in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, stopped abruptly last month, with no announcement of the factory’s closure.
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Yov Khemara, Director – Provincial Labour Department, said that authorities are looking to find a solution and have asked workers to keep calm. On the other side, workers are looking for quick solutions and informed that the company had started reducing its production activities since April. Reports further state that factory has not been able to acquire orders since the beginning of this year, quoted to be one of the reasons that the owner ran away and the factory stopped production.
Ken Loo, Secretary General for the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), states that the next step would be to dissolve the factory’s assets and pay off the creditors and workers.
